4 Attachment(s)
DC FanDome Proves The DCEU Does Villains Better Than Heroes
At DC FanDome 2021, DC showed off a number of new movies and TV shows, and the attention given to Black Adam and Peacemaker made it clear that DC is better at villains than heroes. Many of the projects showcased at DC FanDome have been delayed due to COVID-19 production issues, which also led to DC FanDome itself being a virtual event for the second year running. These delays have kept audiences waiting but have allowed anticipation to build, leaving DC with a high bar to achieve with these projects.
DC and Marvel were both behind successful movie series in the early 2000s that helped to bring new interest to superhero adaptations with Fox working on X-Men and Sony on Spider-Man for Marvel and DC putting out Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins trilogy. However, since then DC has failed to match up to the box office prowess produced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it has established the DC Extended Universe, DC’s projects have not seen the same universal popularity as Marvel’s. While it has been revived by releases like Zack Snyder's Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, they still have a way to go.
The 2021 DC FanDome suggests that DC have found a new system that works for them and are ushering in a new era of content with a heavier focus on antiheroes and villainous characters. While this new direction doesn’t erase the other work they’re doing, it is certainly notable. Importantly, this element might be the thing that finally makes DC a true match for power the MCU.
DC Is Learning From Their Recent Successes
DC’s first foray into antihero-led live-action feature films was not well received as it came in the form of David Ayer's Suicide Squad, which was infamously the victim of studio meddling. While #ReleaseTheAyerCut has trended on Twitter, suggesting that there might be a different and/or better version of the film, as with Justice League’s Snyder Cut, the film was largely panned by moviegoers and critics alike. Despite the poor reception, the film importantly introduced Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn into the DCEU and signaled a possible direction for DC to take.
While it didn’t find great success at the box office, 2020’s Birds of Prey showed that there was an appetite for films largely centered on antiheroes or villains from DC. Reboot-sequel The Suicide Squad, headed by James Gunn and released in 2021, saw a positive reaction from critics and audiences, and while its box office takings were lower than hoped for, this can be attributed to it simultaneously releasing on HBO Max and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic playing a large factor. Outside of the DCEU, the Harley Quinn animated series has developed a strong following among certain groups and has been lauded for its acknowledgment of a queer relationship between Harley and Poison Ivy. The trailer for the upcoming Harley Quinn season 3 received a memorable showcase during the 2021 DC FanDome. DC is clearly learning from these relative successes in projects led by bad guys or, at the very least, those who are more morally gray, as DC FanDome 2021 showed a DCEU leaning more and more into that vibe.
The DCEU And Beyond: Antiheroes And Making Heroes Villains
With these previous successes under their belt, many of the projects revealed at DC FanDome 2021 either focused on making villains or antiheroes their protagonists or go all out on making their heroes into the villains of their stories. Peacemaker, who was already a criminal at the start of The Suicide Squad and ultimately betrayed the rest of his team, returns for his own TV series. The Peacemaker trailer suggests that the antihero, as well as getting center billing, will be portrayed in a sympathetic way on a quest for a form of redemption and purpose. Similarly, one of DC’s biggest upcoming movies is the Dwayne Johnson-fronted Black Adam that follows the titular character who is mentioned in passing in Shazam! and has in the comics been a villain or dark antihero at best.
This trend of focusing on the characters who usually find themselves as the antagonists rather than protagonists continues beyond the movies of the DCEU and the spinoff TV series. The upcoming animated movie Catwoman: Hunted focuses on Batman's longtime villain and lover. And one of DC's anticipated video games is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which sees DC’s famous heroes corrupted and the fate of Metropolis left in the hands of Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang.
Perhaps one of the most common criticisms of DC’s content is that they’re overly reliant on Superman and Batman, particularly in the DCEU. Together the pair have occasionally been labeled as boring because Superman is so powerful and quintessentially good that it is hard for him to have interesting character arcs, and Batman’s plot for justice and redemption of Gotham falls flat when compared to what change a billionaire could enact if he applied himself differently. For years, Warner Bros. has been reluctant to embrace Superman's hopeful, noble nature in the way Marvel has Captain America, and has largely avoided moving beyond Joker in Batman's live-action projects. The result is that Superman's potential has been largely wasted in the DCEU while Batman's wider universe has not been explored.
Two films promise to address some of these issues, however. The showcase for the Injustice animated film casts Superman as a villain by demonstrating what would happen if Superman snapped and decided to use his powers to become a tyrant while enacting his own idea of “good” with the support of other powerful figures like Wonder Woman. On the other end of the spectrum, The Batman takes a new look at Bruce Wayne during the early days of his career and casts the stoic hero as an antihero instead. While he is usually focused on justice and providing hope to the people of Gotham, in the latest The Batman trailer released at DC FanDome 2021, he asserts that he is “vengeance,” not justice. It suggests that his Bat-signal is a sign of fear, not hope.
The DCEU Can Beat The MCU With Their Villains
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the true superhero powerhouse of the movie theater and now with their Disney+ shows, there is one area where they reliably fall behind. Aside from a limited number of villains that make multiple overarching appearances such as Thanos or Loki, many of their antagonists have been bland, poorly developed, and forgettable, at least in the earlier days of the MCU. While this is a side-effect of their better-developed protagonists, and Marvel's antagonists have certainly been evolving, it leaves a gap in the market for DC to take advantage of.
By focusing on their classic bad guys and turning some of their longest-standing heroes like Superman and Batman into antiheroes and villains, DC has found a way to carve out their own unique niche in the superhero market. While DC has recently been skewing into darker, grittier versions of their IPs, it is important that these antihero-driven projects are not exclusively dark, but many, like Peacemaker, are geared towards a fun and irreverent tone. If DC continues to lean into these strengths in the way that 2021’s DC FanDome suggests they will, then they will be able to stand up to Marvel’s presence and audiences will get reliably good content from both studios that can feel very unique when compared to each other.
